I have had many neighbor issues over the past 28 years that have taught me many lessons.

You were probably "O.K. appropriate" depending on what you said, and how you said it. I'm sure you are aware that some people can say something to you, be it proper or not, and you will think nothing of it. If however, someone else says the same thing, depending on how they say it, you might take offense.

I currently have an issue with two neighbors. One has a dog that attacked me three times while I was walking my three on a leash. I politely discussed the issue with owner that I didn't appreciate how she was letting her full grown Labrador get off her leash and come at me full throttle with teeth showing etc. This had no effect. After the last incident, I told her that I was going to call proper authority and let them discuss the issue with her. I did so, but I also gave my name. (person already knew I was going to do it).

In the other instance, I filed a complaint anonymously because the people are simply nuts.

My point is, you have to make a sound judgement about how you are going to handle neighbors. Making a call shortly after incident is probably not wise, because your juices are flowing, and no matter what you say, it's probably not going to come out right. After you think about it for a while, then you calm down etc.

You also must consider the sanity of neighbors. Many times I have had with people who's biscuits just were not baked all the way cause me problems, and my life in general was not pleasant. (Someone threatened to shoot me once for walking my dogs in front of her house. I was doing nothing, just walking and nut case didnt like me) For these reasons, I consider carefully what I am going to do if something happens.

Good luck!!

SG

It is illegal to keep wildlife without a license. If your neighbor had a license for the deer, s/he would should not let ot roam. A tame buck is a very dangerous creature in the rut.

Good luck.

Post postings bring up good issues. Legally - That the neighbors animals were uncontained is not really the issue, (until you hit them with your car because they are running around without supervision or they attack in a public place) as long as they are allowed to roam around unattended that concern although warranted is up to the county to deal with. Once the animals come into your property the rules change. I think you did fine, but I also think you might want to let the authorities know what is going on. If the baby deer and dog end up somewhere else they are not suppose to be the right people with the proper legal adavanatages can work with the owners. Im not saying you need to TELL ON your neighbors, just let the animal services know that there was an incident which concerned you, and it involved a deer and a dog. In case your neighbor turns out to not have a good grasp on reality and in the future becomes aggressive or threatening, then you are covered. It might also force them to build a fence for their animals. Which obviously need to be in a more safe and secure area. This is not a fun place to be and it sucks your neighbors have put you in the position of having to let them know they are not doing a good job of keeping their animals safe. I hope this does not trun nasty. I think for your sake you might want to start documenting the animals in your property and your contact with these new neighbors. Covering your tush is never something someone regrets.

Mazer - we think alike. I have documented this entire episode in case it does become a problem. Just one page so far. If the animals come onto my property again I will either call them and just tell them to come retrieve them OR I will tell a lie and say that one of my dogs attacked the deer and they need to check her/him for wounds. So far I don't like these people.

So far, the neighbors' pets have wandered onto your property, & their owners have retrieved them, & you've left them a telephone message.

If you want to remain on good terms with your neighbors & to be a good neighbor, I think you need to just call them if it happens again, & be there to talk to them when they come for their pets, & impress upon them your concern for the welfare of pets that are not protected by their own fences, let alone the uproar that visiting animals cause amongst your dogs.

If your pet got out & "visited" down the road & a neighbor called you & told you to check your pet because his/hers had "attacked" it, how would you feel about that neighbor?

In a similar vein, if I lived close to someone who kept a pet deer, I don't know that I'd stick my nose in & 'report' them unless the deer seemed to be underfed or ill-treated, *especially* if I'd left them a telephone message about the deer.

If you want to remain on good terms with your neighbors & to be a good neighbor, I think you need to just call them if it happens again, & be there to talk to them when they come for their pets, & impress upon them your concern for the welfare of pets that are not protected by their own fences, let alone the uproar that visiting animals cause amongst your dogs.

This might work with regular folks, but I get the feeling that these neighbors are very much like mine...irresponsible. I don't understand why a certain portion of the population doesn't "get" that they are endangering their own animals by letting them roam...not to mention that they cause difficulties for the neighbors onto whose land they are roaming. I can guarantee that this isn't the last time Vicky is going to find these critters on her land. There are reasons people are not supposed to own deer...this deer will never have the fear of humans it should and this will make it much more vulnerable as an adult. This deer could have chronic wasting disease as well, and go on to spread that around to other deer. Vicky was already very nice, in my opinion. The neighbors know how she feels about this and I think she should go ahead and pull out the big guns when it happens again. If you can't contain your animals, you shouldn't have any.

I keep my animals on my own property. My neighbors do not. I haven't lived here long but I plan to live here for a very long time. I have no intentions of bringing out the big guns because their dogs and cats have started coming onto my property. Do I think they are irresponsible? Sure I do, but I want to get along with the neighbors, not make enemies of them. I'll talk to them if it starts to become a big problem. Right now, I just chase them off.
I admit some of you are making me a bit nervous from another thread. Talking about neighbors moving out and leaving pets behind. I certainly hope one particular neighbor never moves and strands 3 or 4 little dogs and Gawd, I can't even count how many cats they feed over there. :-( I don't know what I'll do if that happens, so in a way I hope they are here to stay. I have all the pets I can afford.

One question runs the red flag up the pole for me - why does your neighbor have a deer? Isn't that illegal unless she has a license to have a petting farm or something like that. Are you saying that she has a deer for a pet??? Sounds off to me.

Neighbors.. Ahhh, so glad I have 4 wonderful "neighbors". I live on a wooded 3 plus acre property surrounded by acres and acres of wooded wet lands. There are four of us with houses back in acres and acres of untouched woodland. Thanks to the Wetlands Act, it will stay that way indefinitely. All of our houses are very far apart as the lots were set up to have buffers of free undeveloped woods between our houses.

We all waive hello, watch out for one another, call if someone sees something off, a person who is out of place, etc. Also, we call if another neighbor's dog has gotten loose (it does happen despite the best precautionary measures).

My meter reader constantly opens one of my gates to read the meter. He never bothers to replace the bugie cord I have placed on that gate for extra protection. The fence is a split rail with welded wire behind it all the way around the formal yard. There are four gates in the yard. Every gate has a bungie cord for safety. Before I let the dogs out, I look out the back door at each gate to be sure no one has moved a bungie cord. One day, DD let the dogs out in the middle of the afternoon and didn't check all gates. Well, of course, my two male labs were out and about and my neighbor called me to give me a heads up. Love her.

My guys don't want to go to anyone's home, they want to get to the water to swim, and if the neighbor hadn't called, it would have been a half hour or so before I would have known.

We also call one another if there's a racoon seen, or any other dangerous animal, coyote, or fox since our young kids stand on a bus stop in the dark in the morning.

I thank the Lord that I live with people who are animal lovers and would take my animal into their yard or garage and call me if they saw it was roaming since they know that's not what I am about.

I don't like that your neighbor wants you to send her pets on their way. Who's guaranteeing that the animals are going to return to her property and not end up as roadkill.

No matter how much I would dislike someone like that, I don't think I could take it out on the animals. I know, its not your problem, but people are getting more and more irresponsible with their pets. They just assume the animal will find its way home. Yes, in the movies and tv perhaps, but not always in real life.

I guess in the spirit of being neighborly, if it happens again, I would cordon the animals and call the neighbor to come and get them. If she says let them out and they'll find their way home, I would say no you come and get them, if you don't I will call the animal control officer. That should get her attention. She obviously doesn't want to face you. Too bad.

If it becomes a constant occurrence, then you need to tell her straight up that you need to ensure the safety of her animals if she won't, and I would call the proper authority in your county. It won't make you popular, but if it saves the life of an innocent animal, I think it makes you a good person.

Junebug - this deer also has less fear of dogs too so I think it's doomed. I totally agree with you that this deer is vulnerable.

Sylvia - that's what I meant - ie WHEN and IF it happens again. My concern is their attitude - that I should just let their pets run around until they go home on their own. I decided that I will chase them off if they come over again - better yet, I think one of my dogs would enjoy chasing them! But I also think that if a neighbor called to say that my pet was being hurt by their pet - that I might not like them but I would get the message!

vicky

Labmomma - yes, it's illegal to have a deer and she knows this.

Thanks for what you said - that's a good idea. I'll keep them safe and call for them to come get them. If she says NO - just let them go - I'll say "oh, no I couldn't do that - they may not make it home safe." She'll get tired of coming to get them. AND she'll get the message.

vicky

"better yet, I think one of my dogs would enjoy chasing them!"

That just doesn't sound like someone who loves pets, & I hope that you don't say anything like that to *any* neighbors.

It will make you look like the bad guy, the one with the hostile attitude.

If your neighbors are nice people who enjoy a very casual & open relationship with other neighbors (& perhaps who had a very casual & open relationship with the people who lived in your home before), threats will sour your relationship with them forever *& make you look like the unstable one*.

& if they're irresponsible & maybe, as seems to be the consensus here, a little wacko, threats may really backfire badly:

A neighbor told me that when the people on the other side of her house first moved in, the husband came over & said that he wanted her to cut down her oleanders because his wife was allergic to them.
Surprised, she made some sort of non-commital reply, like, "I'll certainly talke to my husband about that."

The next morning, her oleanders were dead.

beanne handles her situation well, & labmomma has some very good advice.

Please be careful.

Sylviatexas = irresponsible neighbor.

Cautioning someone to not create a conflict with a neighbor is irresponsible?

interesting idea.

Junebug, can you see into the future or are you just assuming Vicky will have more trouble with the neighbors? You said..The neighbors know how she feels about this and I think she should go ahead and pull out the big guns when it happens again. If you can't contain your animals, you shouldn't have any.
I think Vicky handled the situation right so far. No damage done. Why not try to work things out with neighbors even if it does happen again before "bringing out the big guns"?
Who wants to live next door to someone who hates them? I hate conflict and would especially hate to live with it on a daily basis in my own home.
People let their animals run loose here. It's just the way it is. We are outside the city limits on a dead end road. There are leash laws for the whole county but are not enforced. Should I call the law on all these people and make them change the way they've been living just because *I* think they are irresponsible? The animals are fairly safe and look well cared for for the most part. I've come to recognize most of them and where they live. It's funny, most have fenced yards and are confined most of the time. But then come late after noon I'll see them out loose walking past my house, then a little later I'll see them heading back the other way. I've never seen or heard a dog fight and the ones next door even have cats following them around. Oh well, the point is I don't think people should look for trouble with their neighbors. Work it out if at all possible and keep the law out of it. They're not the ones who have to live there.

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I just wrote my neighbors a few houses down a letter to get them to stop letting their yappy poop machine run around the street loose because they're too lazy to get off their bums and walk it. I basically warned them of all the gory dangers then invited them to come use my fenced yard. It wasn't a nasty letter.

They may apologize and act sincere but they will never talk to you again, they will never take you up on your offer for play dates, they will never contain their dogs, never fence their yard and never get off their bums. Their dog will eventually get hit by a car, get killed in a fight with an aggressive dog or a predator or get lost and starve, bleed or freeze to death or bitten by a poisonous snake and carried off by vultures.

But writing the letter is satisfying. What more can you do aside from calling the authorities on your neighbors... (refer to previous paragraph.)

I'd never write a nasty letter to a neighbor for the odd pile of poop in my yard. If it gets to bugging me that much, I'll fix the gate across the driveway to make sure they can't get in. Good fences make good neighbors and a fence can work both ways. No need to make waves over a little poop.

"wasn't" a nasty letter.
These people let their dog out to roam around the neighborhood about twice a day. This is a huge safety risk for this little yappy dog that RUNS eratically across the street but It's true I don't want to clean up the mess... we have small yards here in a subdivision where we have to have some consideration for others. If you don't care about your dog and would just as soon scrape the dog off the pavement with a shovel, that's fine with me but I am not your maid and it's not fair that I clean up after your messes. We aren't allowed to have front yard fences... believe me I'd build a replica of the great wall of china.

In your case, for the dogs safety, I'd probably call animal control. You don't have to give your name, just report a dog on the loose. Maybe the "yappy poop machine" will find a better home, or maybe your neighbors will keep him home after they have to bail him out.
After your letter they'll probably have a good guess who did it though. Good luck, and good luck to the little dog.

Well that's definitely an idea but here's why it won't work.
I've called AC before on other neighbors. and it takes them a long time to get out here. By the time they got here the dog would be back inside.

In the past with other neighbors let their dogs out or unknowingly get out, I take them back home and tell them verbally that they need to keep an eye on their dog. They haven't complied with this request yet and the dogs still run around loose. With this nasty, mean dog even tho s/he is small I don't want to risk getting bitten. Dogs that bite here are put to sleep.

The only thing that could work is to open up the gate to the backyard and let them in and close the gate and then let the neighbors sweat it out for a while. I haven't tried this yet.
I kid you not, In the course of a week, I could collect like 3 dogs that don't belong to me! I could start my own doggy refugee camp!

I know what you mean about AC. They are usually understaffed and it does take time.If you have the dog confined, they will pick it up though.
Why are your neighbors intentionally letting their dogs loose? Isn't there a real danger they will be hit by car? How busy is your street?
Here I can understand to a point. Dogs would have to travel quite a ways to get to a busy road. All three roads go into dead ends and they are so narrow, bumpy and curvy it's impossible to drive fast.

A couple of years ago a neighbor was walking his foo foo dog when another neighbor's large dog jumped its fence and came after the man and his dog. The man picked up his dog but the large dog attacked him. He pulled out a hand gun he was licensed to carry and shot the dog dead. The police arrested the owner of the large dog for keeping a dangerous dog. Seems it wasn't the first time the dog had attacked someone.

People with little dogs never think their dog could possibly be a danger to society, so for that reason they believe leash laws don't apply to them, and it's okay to let Fifi run around unsupervised.

What they don't think about is how vulvernable little Fifi is, running unattended. Fifi can be run over, stolen, or attacked by a much larger dog.

That tragic situation happened to a friend of mine. She owned a medium size dog. She was walking her dog on a leash, when suddenly a tiny dog came racing around the corner. Her dog attacked on instinct, broke the leash and killed that little dog. My friend later found out her dog was a Spitz mix, which are bred to hunt rabbits...about the size of that poor little dog.

Bottom line, people who really care take measures to protect their loved ones. So sorry you have a neighbor putting you in a bad situation...one that has the potential to get worse.